Results from Phase III Community Forums:

Bakersfield College - March 24, 2000

Our Slogan:
· The city with the Heart of a small town
· Te Nashville of the West
· Leave your heart here! And your worries behind!
· Great place! Great people!


Our Image:
· Trees!!!!
· No crime
· Clean city
· Diversified and ecologically sensitive
· Friendly!
· Culturally rich!
· Travel Destination
· Safe


Our Reputation:
· Friendliest
· Great economic & employment potential
· Forward-thinking
· Trendsetter
· Green!!
· Access to visual and performing arts
· Great place to raise a family


Civic Culture
· Complete cooperation between city/county government
· Smart growth
· Responsive leaders-Respect eht IQ of those you represent
· Let the people choose!


Business Environment:
· International trade center
· Welcoming to new businesses - Fewer loopholes & Barriers - streamlined process - partners with government
· Businesses committed to social support, service & improvement


Arts & Culture:
· Outdoor cafes
· Arts education
· Neighborhood art centers for after school art, music, theatre, video
· Great arts programs in every school
· Broad diverse entertainment
· World class symphony
· Full time paid symphony, opera.
· A cultural arts center downtown
· Open air street center (like Santa Monica)
· Wonderful places to dance/romance (diverse musical themes)
· LARGE scale public sculptures everywhere


Heart of the City
· Equality
· Unity
· Friendship
· Pride in our community
· Unitified Bakersfield
· Richness across cultures


Technology:
· Every student has access to www and computers
· Internet communication at all public venues
· Community Tech access bars - ALL over town


Transportation:
· I love our light rail system
· Great gas prices
· East-West Freeways
· Fast rail system - SF-LA
· Reliable light rail system
· More folks live near their work


Biggest Changes:
· More housing downtown
· Rapid Transit System
· City/county cooperation (no more fussing and blame-gaming)
· Affordable day care for lower income families
· Appreciation for the arts


Break Thrus:
· Better pay and more job opportunities
· Affordable living
· Seamless education system
· Redevelopment rather than new development
· Annual gay and lesbian pride festival
· Decreased calss size
· Business & Education partnerships


Looking Back, I'm most proud of…
· The 2020 Vision work!
· How we cleaned up the air
· Our new understanding of the central role of the arts in community culture
· Being heard by community leaders


What's Our Vision for our economy over the next 10-20 years?
· Higher wages
· Social security benefits still exist in 2020
· Complete Medicare coverage for all elderly
· Equal opportunity
· Seniors integrated into workplace
· Business opportunity for all
· Tele-commuting
· Internet hub
· More of our share of state and federal taxes
· Early job training


What kind of Economic Development Initiatives do we want to create?
· County-wide cooperation
· Partnerships in education


What kind of Jobs do we want to attract here over the next 10-20 years?
· High tech
· Music industry
· Vocational
· Amusement Park/Theme Park
· Man-made beach
· Internet industry
· Still have abundant agriculture (outlying)
· Marketing, public relations
· Radio Industry (Western music hub)


Our Vision for Downtown
· Riverside restaurants
· Little Italy and Old Town Greece along the river
· Children's Art, Science and Tech Centers in every quadrant od downtown (Museum area; 34th & Columbus; Beale; South of California between Chester and Oak-between Chester and Union-between Union and Lakeview
· Buck's Theme Park
· Country Music Assoc. Center
· Elevated freeway through downtown until it goes underground before Oak St. Park on top of underground portion
· Art, entertainment activities mall for kids between Chester near Golden State
· Street Art and Art Galleries parallel to Chester
· Educational center (Weill?)
· Nordstroms, Saks, Lord & Taylor - East side of Chester
· River Walk thru Central Park to Truxtun
· Large Scale sculptures on Riverwalk and along Truxtun
· Still the best neighborhood and now also a beautiful neighborhood - East of California , West of Chester
· Trees everywhere
· More antique stores
· Art Museum
· Eateries and shops along Riverwalk past 34th
· NFL Stadium and Baeball stadium between Beale and Union
· Bakersland Theme Park - East
· Man-made beach
· Trade Center on Lakeview and Brundage
· Light rail along California and Union


In our community'sfuture we wanted and we got:
· Better P.R. in L.A. press on what we have to offer!
· Inter-rail trans with Amtrac & local transportation. Mass upper rail transportaion
· Sculpture everywhere
· Educational equity across all school districts
· More vocational training for our young people
· Free after school activities
· Metro rail (like Washington DC) and light rail
· A performing arts center for theatre, symphony, opera, fine art center
· Land to farm
· Nordstrom, Saks, Lord & Taylor
· Trees!
· Activity Mall (kids) - old, used buildings - community centers
· Bake lane on all roads
· Riverside restaurants
· Recreation for latch key children - parks in each neighborhood


What we didn't want and didn't get…
· Continued emphasis on single-car travel
· Drugs
· Gangs
· Low-paying jobs
· Neighborhoods that are cluttered
· No more stinky polluting busses!
· Uncontrolled growth
· Brown sky
· High school dropout
· Smell air from Bear Mtn Blvd.
· No emply lots (old unused buildings)
· High school graduates always wanting to leave Bakersfield
· Racial barriers
· Homeless


Common Themes
· Light rail
· Arts & cultural center
· Shopping
· Theme parks
· Dining
· Riverwalks
· Community partnership
· Trees
· Friendly environment
· Fun and educational environment
· Technologically savvy
· Clean
· Beautiful
· Responsive government
· Inviting reputation/image


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